


You Carried All of Time

by princejoopie



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Dave (Umbrella Academy) Lives, Five is a good brother, Fix-It, Fluff, I'm Bad At Tagging, M/M, TUA Secret Santa 2019, Time Travel Fix-It, it's just really soft, just soft boys being happy and nice, klaus deserves this damnit he's been through enough
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:40:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21962266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/princejoopie/pseuds/princejoopie
Summary: The briefcase was identical to the one Klaus’d had since the moment he arrived- the one he always kept so carefully hidden.And honestly? It wasn’tat allwhat Dave would’ve expected a time machine to look like.
Relationships: Dave/Klaus Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & Klaus Hargreeves
Comments: 13
Kudos: 481





	You Carried All of Time

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BingoBongo269](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BingoBongo269/gifts).



> So this is my TUA Secret Santa present and I finished it super last minute and I really hope it doesn't suck too much lol. My recipient was BingoBongo269, aka i-am-unoriginal-posts on tumblr, and I especially hope he doesn't hate it.

“You’re absolutely sure you want this?” the child whispered, tightening his grip on Dave’s wrist.

They were stood under a tall, twisting banyan tree, crickets chirping through the silence of the pitch dark night.

“I’m sure,” Dave replied, curls bouncing on his head as he nodded.

“You understand all of the potential consequences-” The boy continued. And though he was listening, Dave’s eyes kept drifting back to one tent near the edge of the camp. “-And you’re willing to accept the risks?”

The kid, who’d called himself Five, was tightly clutching a large briefcase in the hand that wasn’t holding onto Dave’s. The case was identical to the one Klaus’d had since the moment he arrived- the one he always kept so carefully hidden.

And honestly? It wasn’t  _ at all _ what Dave would’ve expected a time machine to look like.

“I... I think so,” he said quietly.

Dave had thought it was some weird messed up dream at first, when he’d been woken up that night. Just like he’d thought it was some weird dream when Klaus first appeared in a flash of light. But now he knew that what he’d seen then was true.

Because this time it was a preteen in schoolboy shorts telling Dave that he was about to die and that his boyfriend was from the future. He already knew Klaus could see ghosts, so hey, anything was possible.

And now, they stood under the trees at the edge of the forest, the child's brow furrowing in annoyance at Dave’s uncertainty. “You  _ think _ so?”

Dave sighed in response. “Well excuse me for not knowing all the ins and outs of time travel. This is kind of a lot to take in, you know.”

“Yeah,” the kid said. Dave saw his eyes flick down to his own body for half a second, and when he looked back up he was avoiding Dave’s gaze. “...Tell me about it.”

For a short moment he just stared at nothing but the tree roots and damp grass, and Dave wondered how much he had going on deep down, and how much of it he’d never let on.

“Alright.” His eyes snapped back up to Dave’s. “You’re completely ready?”

Dave nodded slightly. “I thi-  _ Yeah. _ Yeah I am.”

“Okay,” the boy said, nodding in return. “Then fasten your seatbelt.” He gripped Dave’s wrist even tighter as he used his other hand to fumble with the latches on the big briefcase.

It finally clicked open, and in an instant all the tents and woods and war were washed out by a crackling flood of light.

~~~

Klaus woke up over an hour early to dead silence.

Klaus  _ never _ woke up early without a nightmare or something to cause it. When he was out, even the lieutenant could often barely rouse him with his loudest shouts. But this time, it was as if his body sensed that something was...  _ off. _ And it only took him a moment to realize the source of the feeling.

Dave wasn't there.

Klaus shifted in his cot, now focused solely on the empty one next to him.  _ Okay, maybe he just had to pee or something,  _ he thought. But Dave always had to pee in the middle of the night- at least according to him, as it had  _ never _ woken Klaus before.

He pushed himself up onto his elbow, and from this angle he could see a folded piece of paper on Dave's pillow. Rolling off of his cot, Klaus snatched up the note and, upon seeing his name scrawled on the front, quietly exited the tent without bothering to put on his shirt.

A thousand questions were firing through his head as he dropped to sit cross-legged on the ground outside of the tent and dug in his pocket for a lighter. Was he about to see a long-winded letter about Dave running away, or being sent home due to some family emergency? Or just a couple of words saying he'd be back in the morning?

Finally, under the light of the almost-full moon and his freshly lit cigarette, Klaus carefully unfolded the paper.

_Klaus,_ it began, _Your_ _little brother contacted me last night. As I'm sure you know, he's very intelligent. And he told me about a few... possibilities involving the war and my future. Please meet us at home when you find this letter. Yes, your home. Your friend, Dave._

Klaus turned the paper over in his hands a couple times, although he wasn't sure what more he expected to find. The note was clearly worded carefully in case someone else found it, but that also made it borderline indecipherable.

All he could really understand was Dave telling him to go home. But surely that couldn't mean his  _ real _ home... right? Not the Academy, not in 2019...  _ right?? _

He was at a loss for what else to do though. If Five really  _ had _ come and found Dave, then the idea of Dave having returned to 2019 with him was a definite possibility. And if Five had come to find him, that must mean something was  _ wrong. _

After rereading the note again, Klaus stood and stuffed it into his pocket. And once he finished his cigarette, he walked back into the tent and straight over to his cot.

Crouching down, Klaus slid the briefcase out from under the cot and set it upright in front of him, just staring down at the latches as his mind sped through all of the possibilities over and over.

With shaking hands, he rotated the dials until they read  _ 03-28-2019 _ . But he didn’t open the case.

Not yet.

Instead he got back on his feet, heaving the bulky briefcase up with him, and walked toward the open flap of the tent again.

But before exiting, he turned back and looked at all the sleeping figures of the friends he’d come to know and love. Something in his gut told him it would be the last time he’d see them. But more than anything, he needed to be wherever Dave was, so he turned around and continued on nonetheless.

By the time he reached a secluded enough corner of the camp, all of the second-guesses and self-doubts had begun to bubble up inside him. He couldn’t shake the thought that he’d misinterpreted everything, that he’d leave here- leave  _ Dave _ \- and never be able to return.

But the briefcase was in his hands, and if he could use it to get back to 2019 now then there should be no reason to believe he couldn’t use it again to return here, if he needed to.

So he took a deep breath, and opened the case.

And in a flash of blue and white, he was landing on his ass in the enormous foyer of the mansion he’d grown up in.

The tile floor was cold beneath him, at least compared to the warmth of Vietnam. And after nearly ten months away, the whole room seemed much bigger than Klaus remembered. A year of cramped tents and tiny trenches made the ceiling here seem higher, the stairs wider, the walls farther apart.

But as he was looking around, just taking in the familiar view of each ornate detail, the sound of footsteps brought his mind back down to earth and he turned to look for the source.

And when he found it, he let out the most relieved and joyful laugh he could’ve imagined.

Klaus scrambled to his feet, nearly tripping in the process, and sprinted across the tile until he fell into Dave’s arms, clutching him so,  _ so _ tightly.

“Hey Klaus,” he whispered, and Klaus was already crying harder than he had in years.

Klaus, sobbing and shaking, leaned into Dave’s neck, as Dave’s big, strong arms pulled him even closer.

And Klaus wasn’t about to let him go. Not now. Not  _ ever. _


End file.
